A musical theatre production packed with Okotoks talent opened this week.
Opening April 28 at the Seton YMCA's Evan Hazell Theatre, with shows running until May 6, The Gardener tells the story of Marcus, a young man who finds himself an angel when his life is cut short, and the young woman he falls in love with, but cannot hold.
“He has all these plans for life, that kind of get stripped from him early because he ends up dying in the war,” said Maren Ord Burnham, the show’s playwright and Juno-nominated singer/songwriter.
“He ends up being an angel, getting the lowest angel job possible.”
That role is called a ‘gardener,’ tending flowers that represent people's lives. When their time comes Marcus picks one, and the person passes on to be greeted by him.
“He hates his job, he hates his angel companion, and he ends up being sent back to his hometown to take people to the other side,” Ord Burnham said.
“It’s tragic because there’s romance and tragedy, but there’s also comedic characters to lighten things.”
That comic relief brings what she said is much-needed levity to the story.
“It does talk about the afterlife and death, so it does deal with those elements, but also I don't think I would want to be an audience member living through that for two hours,” Ord Burnham said.
“So I wanted to infuse a bit of comedy as well, and so we have a variety of angels, one of them being a team of ‘German Exchange Angels.'"
The story was born from musings Ord Burnham shared with her sisters.
“We love talking about story ideas and character development and we thought it was cool to have this angel who is in love with a mortal, somebody he can’t touch, they can't see him,” she said.
“Then all of a sudden one day she can hear him and he’s like, ‘What’s going on?’”
There to give Marcus his orientation is another angel named Bob, played by Chris Beazely.
“Bob has been doing this for a couple hundred years already, and when the new guy who comes in, Bob ends up being his trainer,” said Beazely.
“So the more good deeds you do, the more you get promoted and work your way up in heaven, so I’m all ambitious and anxious for it and when Marcus shows up everything stops, and I don’t get promotions anymore.
“I become a bit of a disgruntled angel.”
Beazely’s involvement began way back when Ord Burnham began workshopping the play, having been a part of her past productions.
“When I first read it, I liked the character Bob, I always kind of hoped I’d get that character,” Beazely said.
“When Maren was writing and developing [the play], I got to see some of that and I loved what she was writing for this character.
“Even since we started rehearsals back in January, the more you get going, the more artistic license you have; you try things as a joke and Maren or somebody says they love it and it’s staying in.
“In the end he’s pretty funny, he’s still a good guy and a heartfelt guy, but I have some fun with him.”
Having attended a fine arts school in Vancouver as a child, Beazely’s family moved to Okotoks in the 1990s, where he took part in the Alberta High School of Fine Arts’ Mainstage program.
His last production of his youth was a Mainstage production of Gershwin’s Crazy for You in 1997, but in adulthood, family and life meant a 20-year break before finding himself back on stage.
“Maren was one of the key factors in bringing me out of that hiatus and getting back into it,” Beazely said. “Life gets in the way if you don’t force yourself make time for the things you love.”
Between the quirky cast of angels and their intricate hierarchy, Ord Burnham had the elbow-room to do some world-building for her story.
“What I've found the most fun about this show is developing rules for a world that I don’t know, but that I get to create,” she said. “There’s certain elements in this world that I believe to be true, but there’s definite elements that I’ve made up that are a bit silly or just a bit interesting.”
This is the third major play written by Ord Burnham, having previously staged her Feather Pen Fairy Tales at the Okotoks Alliance Church in January of 2020.
She didn't take much time before starting into writing The Gardener.
“I totally promised my husband I’m not going to write anything, that I was going to nap for a week and not do anything,” said Ord Burnham.
“Well, I lied, because when I focus on something, I just have to do it right then and there, and I sat at the piano the next day and just the musical theme for this.”
While she's had a great run in the world of music and theatre herself, the playwright expressed her gratitude for the wealth of talented performers in the Okotoks and Foothills region willing to throw themselves into the play.
“Being part of a theatre production is no small ask, and everybody is volunteering their time and I feel so grateful," said Ord Burnham.
"They not only take time out of their lives to come to rehearsal, but they come prepared and come ready to go.
“This is a dream for me.”
The Gardener runs April 28-29 and May 3-6 at 7 p.m., with matinees on April 29 and May 6. Tickets and information can be found at Eventbrite.ca.
Originally posted 04/27/2023 12:30 PM, updated 04/29/2023 5:39 PM
